


Those who Matter don’t Mind

by flaggermousse



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Cleaning out Grimmauld Place, Differences between Muggle and Wizarding world, Gen, POV Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-24 05:08:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30067125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flaggermousse/pseuds/flaggermousse
Summary: “Because Sirius and Lupin, they’re ... they, uhm ...” Hermione suddenly seemed uncertain. “Don’t ... don’t you know, Harry?”“Know what?”“I- I just thought you, umm, I didn’t mean ... it’s maybe not my place to-”George cut through her halting explanation: “Harry, what’s she’stryingto say is that your godfather is shagging our old Defence-professor.”
Relationships: Sirius Black & Harry Potter, background Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 12
Kudos: 185
Collections: The Moon and the Stars





	Those who Matter don’t Mind

Despite not being allowed to work for the Order, there was more than enough for Harry and the Weasley-kids to do at Grimmauld Place. Every room had to be cleaned of years of dust and spider webs, emptied of old heirlooms and dark artefacts (or ‘garbage’ as Sirius called it), and occasionally, they had to fight numerous creatures that had taken up residence.

After various incidents with cursed music-boxes and murderous pieces of clothing, everyone found it best to do clean up in groups. That was why Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George were working together on making yet another room safe and liveable. At some point it had seemingly served as a guestroom, if the huge old bed with intricate carvings of dragons was anything to go by.

“This house has enough bedrooms to house the whole Quidditch league.” Ginny yanked down an empty, broken portrait frame and tossed it in the bag. “Who’s getting this one, then?”

“I don’t mind sharing with Ron.” Harry didn’t want to admit it, but he found the old house to be a bit uncomfortable. He didn’t like the thought of spending the night alone, with sounds of Kreacher sneaking around and the buzzing of doxies. Even as they cleared away all the rot, the place could somehow make him feel unwelcome.

“I can still tolerate Harry’s snoring.” Ron grinned, and ducked as Harry threw a pillow at him. “What about you, Hermione?”

Ginny snorted. “Unlike you, Ron, I’m an absolutely _delightful_ roommate.”

Fred and George were wrestling with a heavy old curtain blocking the sunlight. It seemed to have been nailed to the window in several places. No one bothered to ask them if they wanted a room each. Harry suspected that the room the twins shared was filled with unfinished Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes products, and they likely preferred to keep it all hidden in one spot, in case Mrs Weasley came snooping.

Ron picked up one of the many books on blood supremacy from the shelf and watched as all the pages fell out onto the floor. He bent down to start picking them up again. “Lupin could take it; then Sirius wouldn’t need to share his room. It’s his house, after all.”

Hermione smiled and shook her head. “Yes, as if _that_ will happen.”

Harry looked at her. “Why not?”

Hermione turned to him. “Why not?’ Because they’re …” Her expression changed, and suddenly she seemed uncertain. “... they, uhmm ...” She made an awkward gesture with her hands. “Don’t … don’t you _know_ , Harry?”

“Know what?”

Ron and Ginny looked up from the floor with questioning expressions. Hermione looked uncomfortable; this seemed to be a rare occasion where she’d found something she _didn’t_ want to explain. “I- I just thought you knew, umm, I didn’t mean ... it’s maybe not my place to-”

As he dragged the old curtains out from the corner, George cut through her halting explanation: “Harry, what’s she’s _trying_ to say is that your godfather is shagging our old Defence-professor.”

Dropping his end of the curtain, Fred turned to his twin with a look of exaggerated surprise. “Really? I had no idea old Mad-Eye was queer?”

Hermione tried and failed to stop a tiny smile spreading over her face, and actually began giggling when George continued that ‘of course he’d meant Lockhart, who _else_ could it be’. Meanwhile, Harry felt like his thoughts was moving at a snail’s pace; he struggled picking up on what they were saying. The only consolation was that Ron and Ginny seemed equally baffled. “What are you _talking_ about?”

“Sirius and Lupin, Harry.” Hermione sighed. “They’re together.”

“... what?”

“You haven’t noticed? The way they act with each other?”

George dumped the old curtains into the bag. “Not everyone’s as observant as you, Hermione.”

Ginny looked thoughtful, but Ron seemed unconvinced. “Well, how did _you_ figure it out then?”

“Happened to be nearby when Sirius’ mum started ranting. Lupin went to pull the curtains back over the portrait and when she saw who it was ...” For a moment, George looked uncomfortable. “The old hag began screaming about how he had ‘dragged her son into his filthy, perverted lifestyle’, and it got _way_ worse from there. Kept going until Lupin managed to shut her up. Don’t think he realised I was there, and it didn’t seem like a good moment to jump out either.”

Harry tried to think back to the times he’d seen Sirius and Lupin together. They were certainly comfortable with each other, but then again, they were old friends. He had noticed Sirius seemed way more agitated and worried when Lupin was out on a mission, but that didn’t have to mean …

“But ... they _can’t_ be ...”

“Why not?” Hermione frowned at him. “Because they’re both men?”

“No! No, it’s just that, uh ... Lupin is a teacher.” Harry only realised how silly that sounded after he’d said the words. Lupin hadn’t been their professor for over a year, but he still thought of him that way. In his earliest school years, Harry had believed that teachers lived at school and hibernated through the holidays like bears did. Now he knew teachers were just like everyone else, but it was still _weird_ to imagine any of them being in relationships. “And Sirius – Sirius is sort of like a - a ...”

Hermione looked a bit _too_ understanding. “... like a parent?”

Harry didn’t answer. True, he had only met Sirius a little over a year ago, and they’d never lived together as a proper family. Sirius couldn’t fill the hole where his barely remembered father and mother had been, but still, when Harry thought of Sirius’ place in his life ... perhaps parent _was_ the closest word to it.

Ginny grinned and shook her head before emptying the old book pages into the bag. “Well, I’m with you there, Harry. Parents and teachers should not have sex lives.”

“Are you saying old McGonagall’s never done any dogging?”

“Thanks, Fred; I _really_ needed that mental image.”

“Flitwick doesn’t even need to bend down if he’d want to go down on someone.”

“George, please.”

“Snape would probably be a kinky bastard, but I doubt anyone would _want_ to shag him-”

Hermione rolled her eyes and began picking out more books from the old shelf. “Well, judging by how many there are of you, _your_ parents have been very busy.”

“Aaand let’s go back to talking about Sirius and Lupin, alright!?” Ron looked very uncomfortable at the thought of Mr and Mrs Weasley doing anything more than very chaste kissing. “Say that it’s true-”

“It _is_ , Ron.”

“Alright, alright, but then ... why haven’t they said anything about it?”

Hermione looked up from carefully balancing books that were almost disintegrating in her arms. “Maybe they’re worried what we’ll think. It’s not easy for queer people; remember how things were when that bill was up for vote last year?” The only replies were several blank looks. Hermione sighed. “You don’t follow the muggle news, of course.”

Ginny stared at her. “Is ... is it a problem for muggles?”

Hermione threw the damaged books into the bag, and tried dusting off the crumbling pieces sticking to her t-shirt. “Uh, yes? For some people. It used to be illegal for two guys to ... well ...” She made an awkward hand-movement.

“Illegal? Like, they could get _arrested?_ ”

They had clearly hit upon one of those moments where Harry and Hermione’s upbringing among muggles really shone through. The Weasleys were staring at Hermione with varying grades of disbelief on their faces.

“Well, yes-”

“What does the law have to do with what people get up to in private?”

“ _Arrested?_ Merlin’s pants, what’s wrong with muggles sometimes-”

Hermione seemed slightly embarrassed on behalf of the muggle community. “So ... that’s not a problem among wizards?”

Ginny frowned. “No! Why should we care who people choose to get it on with? Our cousin Igraine got married to her girlfriend a couple of years ago, no one made a fuss about that.”

Harry stared at her. “Two witches can get _married?_ ”

“Of course. You mean muggle girls can’t?”

“Eh ... no.”

George shook his head. “Bonkers.”

Hermione seemed confused. “But you just said Mrs Black’s portrait screamed insults at Lupin.”

“Well, some of the more pureblood-families can be very hung up on bloodlines, and two guys can’t have kids and continue the family, so _that_ can get really ugly ...” Realisation dawned on George’s face. “Damn, Sirius probably grew up with that load of dung. Maybe he still got some issues, and that’s why-”

“Or _maybe_ ...” came a voice from behind them, “he just didn’t realise it was anybody’s business.” Sirius was standing in the door.

Harry was suddenly aware that they’d been gossiping about things that were probably very private. Judging by the other’s faces, they had had the same realisation. Sirius didn’t really look _angry_. In fact his face seemed a bit _too_ blank and neutral. “Molly said lunch is ready, so you can take a break.” Before any of them managed to reply, Sirius turned and walked down the corridor. 

The kids stared after him.

“Uhm ...” George looked from one to the other. “He – he doesn’t think we _mind_ , does he?”

“Dunno, like you said, maybe he’s got issues-”

“Oh, _no_.” Hermione moved towards the door. ”We need to talk to him-”

“I’ll do it.” Harry said.

As he left the room, he caught a glimpse of Sirius hurrying up the stairs, and followed him. “Sirius? Where are you going?” The kitchen was two floors down, so he didn’t seem to heading for lunch.

Sirius stopped hallway up the steps, and when he turned to look down at Harry, his face was still strangely blank and mask-like. “Buckbeak needs lunch just as much as the rest of us.”

“I’ll join you.”

Sirius stared at him while Harry followed him up the stairs. The mask slipped away and for a moment there were confusion in his eyes; Harry wasn’t reacting the way he’d expected him to. Then he nodded, and led the way.

At the top of the stairs, Sirius opened an old closet and got out a bag filled with dead rats. He’d put a cooling-spell on the closet to preserve them; several of the pests they’d tried to get rid of ended up as food for the hippogriff, and Mrs Weasley preferred that they kept them away from the kitchen. Sirius got out an armful, and opened the door.

Buckbeak’s place was at the very top of the house, a nearly empty room with large windows in the slanted ceiling. The hippogriff got up from the pile of blankets he’d made a nest out of, and walked over to them. While Harry bowed deeply and got a bow in return, Sirius merely nodded and smiled at the hippogriff, and Buckbeak began stroking against him. Sirius didn’t seem the least bit worried about losing any fingers when he handed him the rats. Harry supposed they’d gotten to know each other pretty well when they were on the run together.

For a while, the only sounds in the room was the crunching sound of rat-bones breaking as Buckbeak tore them apart. Harry coughed awkwardly. “So ... you and Lupin?”

Sirius’ shoulder’s tensed up a little. He didn’t look at Harry. “... yes.”

“Since when?” Harry tried to keep his tone light and politely interested.

“Since Hogwarts.” Sirius handed Buckbeak another rat. “But we only found back to each other over the summer, when I was laying low at his place, so now it’s sort of ... new. Fourteen years is a long time for a break, and ... well.”

“You missed him.”

“ _Every day_.” There was a pained longing in Sirius’ voice; the kind Harry would have thought mostly belonged in books and movies. “If I had had _any_ less self-control the day we met, I would have kissed Remus right there, in the Shack.”

Thinking back, Harry concluded that that would certainly have made the revelations of that night even _more_ surprising. He turned to Sirius. “Just- just so you know ... no one has any problem with it.”

Finally, Sirius looked at Harry. His smile was small, but it was there. “Thanks. Perhaps we should have told you, but like I said, it’s kind of new again, and ...” He sighed. “I guess this place is getting to me. At Hogwarts and afterwards, no one minded Remus and me, but back _here_ it was ... wrong.”

Harry could imagine many things had been ‘wrong’ in Grimmauld Place back then. He understood why Sirius couldn’t stand the place; Harry had hated being shut up in Privet Drive, but at least he’d been able to leave and take fresh air. He patted Sirius’ shoulder awkwardly. “Well, it’s not. At all.”

“Good to know.”

They were quiet for a while. Perhaps Sirius had found the conversation slightly awkward too, because when he started talking again, it was about the travels he had had with Buckbeak. But he seemed to be more relaxed. Soon enough, all the rats were gone. “We better head down for lunch. Molly will be looking for us.”

* * *

Lupin came back from his mission later that day. At dinner, he and Sirius sat next to each other, as they usually did. And _if_ they were a bit closer than usual, a little more openly affectionate, and their fingers intertwined when Sirius put his hand on Lupin’s ... no one minded one bit.

**Author's Note:**

> Hermione is referring to the [Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_Justice_and_Public_Order_Act_1994), which among other things lowered the age at which homosexual acts were lawful from 21 years to 18. During the passage of the Bill, MPs considered reducing this age to 16 (making it the same as for heterosexual sex) but this was rejected. I don’t know how the political climate in UK was at the time, but [Section 28](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_28) was still a thing when this scene takes place in 1995 ... so I figure there was still a way to go.


End file.
